


18. Muffled Screams

by givemesomewings



Series: Whumptober 2019 [1]
Category: Daredevil (Comics), Daredevil (TV), The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: But I can’t help torturing him sometimes, Funeral, Happy Ending, I just tagged it that way just in case, If You Squint - Freeform, M/M, Matt’s a cinnamon roll, Minor Frank Castle/Matt Murdock, Muffled Screams, Or if you just want it to be, Violence may not be that graphic, Whump, Whumptober, Whumptober 2019, and i love him, kind of?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-18
Updated: 2019-10-18
Packaged: 2020-12-21 15:14:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21076988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/givemesomewings/pseuds/givemesomewings
Summary: Matt stood with his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his wool trench coat, his dress shoes sinking deeper into the damp earth with each passing moment. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been staring at the tombstone, it could have been minutes or it could have been hours. He didn’t know, and he didn’t care. It didn’t feel like time existed anymore. Nothing made sense. He was here and the one person he’d learned to love more than anything else was gone.





	18. Muffled Screams

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the Whumptober 2019 prompt “Muffled Screams” and beta’d by the amazing simplykayley. Alternately titled: “I’m Right Here”.

Matt stood with his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his wool trench coat, his dress shoes sinking deeper into the damp earth with each passing moment. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been staring at the tombstone, it could have been minutes or it could have been hours. He didn’t know, and he didn’t care. It didn’t feel like time existed anymore. Nothing made sense. He was here and the one person he’d learned to love more than anything else was gone.

The burial had been tough. He sat rigid in his black fold-out chair, as they lowered his best friend into the ground. He had been this close to losing it when Maggie reached over and threaded her small fingers through his own, her tight grip helped to stave off his inevitable breakdown.

He hadn’t been all that surprised when Maggie offered to accompany him to the funeral, another one of her attempts at trying to make amends for everything she hadn’t done for him growing up. What had surprised him was how much she really helped hold him together. While she caused many, Maggie seemed to be the balm to so many of the wounds he’d gained over the years. At the moment, it felt more like a reason to hold her close than to push her away.

But the worst part had been the reception. He couldn’t stand to be there any longer than he had to. So many people touching him and telling him how sorry they were, that it would be okay. When it wouldn’t be. They didn’t know that it would never be okay again.

Fog’s father, crying as he gripped Matt’s shoulder, telling him he didn’t know how they would make it through this. That Matt was family, too. He wondered if Mr. Nelson - “You know better than that, son. Call me Ed.” - would still believe that if he ever found that Matt was the reason his son was taken away from him. Matt had felt the full weight of a father’s love, he knew how it felt to lose it. Ed had lost something he’d never get back, and it was Matt’s fault.

Someone had taken out Vanessa Fisk.

Supposedly, it was a nephew of one of the higher-ups in the Irish. After Fisk had violently eradicated their entire gang in a hostile takeover, the last remaining member of the family had secretly infiltrated the omnipotent Kingpin’s security. After months of waiting and planning, the Irishman got the perfect opportunity to put a bullet in the fat bastard. Apparently, Vanessa had gotten in front of the gun and took the bullet for him. Fisk snapped the guy’s neck and Vanessa bled out in his arms. Or so Matt had heard. But so what? Good enough for him. After all of Fisk’s meticulous planning to build up a world in his own twisted image, his came crashing down in an instant.

That’s why it was so surprising when Fisk had retaliated with such mindless violence. Anyone who had looked at Fisk or Vanessa with anything even close to contempt had ended up dead. Gang leaders, grunts, political officials. Fisk pulled every string and flexed every muscle to make sure everyone would feel the pain that he felt. That’s when Matt had gotten the call.

_“Hey, buddy. Where have you been?”_

_Matt sat up slowly, the phone pressed to his ear. He shifted carefully, making sure not to pull the stitches Claire had put in his side about an hour ago._

_Matt had called it an early night after he’d gotten clipped bad by some scared kids robbing an ATM, all brandi_shing _knives. He called Claire, she patched him up and then bullied him into staying put._

_“What do you mean, Fog?” he groaned into the phone._

_“You just told me you had a breakthrough with the Astrovik Case. To meet you at the office ASAP?”_

_Matt groaned again. “Sorry, F_og._ I don’t think I can make it.”_

_Matt rubbed his forehead in exhaustion before relaxing into the couch, again. “Wait, I thought you wanted me to meet you at the office?”_

_“You musta taken one-too-many hits to the head, Murdock,” his voice sounded far away as if he leaned back to look at the phone. Matt heard his finger tap lightly at the screen a few times._

_“Yeah, I’m looking at the text now. ‘Meet me at the office in 15 minutes’.”_

_Matt sat forward slightly in concern._

_“Foggy, I didn’t send that text.”_

_“Well, I don’t know what -“_

_Matt could hear the rapid beeping through the phone. Like an alarm was going off somewhere around Foggy. But Matt was afraid it was something much worse than a simple alarm._

_“What the...” Foggy murmured._

_Matt jumped out of his chair, barefoot and wearing nothing but a pair of sweatpants. He ignored his aching muscles as he ran out of the door, not even bothering to close it behind him._

_“Fog, you need to get out of that office now,” Matt exhaled as he ran down the stairs._

_He heard Foggy jiggling the doorknob through the phone._

_“The door’s jammed or something, Matt,” Foggy said breathily. Matt didn’t need to hear his heartbeat spike to kn_ow how _scared Fog was getting._

_Matt was outside now, running as fast as he could, barely registering that he had forgotten to put on his glasses. “Go out the fire escape. Now, Fog!”_

_“I’m going,” Foggy wheezed into the phone, his fear plain now more than ever. “The windows are jammed, too, M-“_

_“Go through the glass, Fog!” Matt screamed frantically._

_He could sense that their law office was now finally visible from where Matt was running. It was a miracle he’d made it this far. Foggy’s frantic heartbeat and his signature scent, finally starting to take over Matt’s senses._

_Matt heard the glass break through the phone. “Ok, Matt. I’m-“_

_Matt could feel the heat of the ex_plosion, _hear the building crumbling, the confused murmur of the few people on the streets._

_Matt stood rooted to the ground, not registering any of the devastation. Listening for one heartbeat only and hearing absolutely nothing._

_Then the screaming started. He ran forward and started sifting through small pieces of debris. He yelled Foggy’s name as he threw aside smoldering bricks and metal beams alike._

_Someone tried to grab him _and pull him _back. He knocked their hands away. The hands gripped his bicep, once again. This time he registered their firm but somehow delicate touch. They felt... familiar._

_“Matt!” Karen panted in his face, her breath warm. “Matt, where’s Foggy?”_

_Matt panted right back. He was about to sneer at her to let him go when a bullet suddenly grazed his ear. Barely missing Karen’s face._

_Karen screamed as he grabbed her and stumbled forward, doing his best to shield her with his body._

_This time he was aware enough to hear the sniper reload his gun. He did his best to maneuver out of the way,_ while also _holding Karen, but he couldn’t quite manage it. Another bullet tore into his shoulder._

_Karen yelled again as he fell forward entirely. The pain from the two shots, the burns from the rubble, and his run-in with those knives taking a toll on him all at once._

_Karen did her best to drag him away as his consciousness faded._

_She was sobbing as she pulled Matt’s limp body toward the closest building. Matt was still listening for that heartbeat._

_The last thing Matt heard before he passed out completely, was a man fall from a building across from what used to be his law office._

_More people began to run and scream but another familiar heartbeat started to drown out the ensuing chaos._

_“It’s the fucking Punisher!” a m_an _screamed as Frank thundered across the rooftop taking out several back-up snipers._

_When he’d woken up in the hospital a few days later, it had taken several sedatives and more than a few orderlies to calm Matt down._

_Karen saw him that same day. She broke down as soon as she entered the room._

_After they held each other and Karen had cried for what felt like an eternity, Matt gathered the strength to listen as she told him what had happened._

_“It was Fisk,” Karen said, wiping her eyes with one hand and gripping Matt’s with the other. Her voice was quiet but firm._

_He’d lured them out with the fake text messages and planned to blow them all to hell after they’d arrived. And knowing Matt, he’d added a few snipers just in case he’d escaped the bomb._

_Karen would have been killed if she hadn’t gotten the one sensible cab driver in New York City. She’d pulled up only seconds before the bomb had gone off._

_And the snipers would have gotten both Matt and Karen, if it hadn’t b_een for _Frank._

_He’d showed up when he heard the bomb and stayed wh_ _en he heard Karen’s scream. The snipers hadn’t stood a chance._

_“I’ll kill him,” Matt muttered to himself._

_Karen didn’t bother trying to talk him out of it. She just shook her head ruefully._

_“I have no more ‘That’s not who you are’ speeches left in me, Matt. And, thankfully, I don’t nee_ _d one.”_

_Matt felt the questioning look creep across his face._

_“You’ve been out for about two days, so I guess you wouldn’t know,” she sighed. “Frank got to him.”_

_Matt stopped breathing, using all his energy to focus on what Karen had to say next._

_“Yeah.” She ran her finge_ _rs through her hair once, before smoothing a few strands behind her ear._

_“Apparently, the ‘Kingpin’,” she_ spat, “in _all his rage, got a little sloppy. Frank interrogated one sniper and found out where he got his orders, then he found out where the next guy got his orders, and so on.”_

_Karen waved her hands through the air a little frantically as she explained. She sniffed then continued. “A lot of his men had been killed in his battle for... whatever this was, and it fo_ _rced him to hire new grunts. Ones who were a lot less loyal,” she allowed herself a small smile before it was washed away by the grief that rolled over her just as quickly._

“_Anyway, Frank got to him eventually and there was this big showdown. Only one of them walked away,” she clicked on the tv and turned the sound up._

_“It’s been all over the news. Brett’s press release has been on a constant loop.”_

_She gripped Matt’s hand even tighter. Another tear slipped down her face, the dam threatening to break all over again. “We finally got him,” she whispered shakily._

_Matt turned his head toward her and cleared his throat. “If only we’d gotten him a little sooner,” he said throatily._

_And there it was. He held her once again as she told him how sorry she was, that she’d be there for him always. He returned the sentiment before realizing that maybe it was the_ _wrong thing to say._

_“It’s my fault,” the whisper spilled out of him unexpectedly and right into Karen’s hair. Her sobs stuttered, and she leaned back and looked at him blankly._

_“If I hadn’t kept pushing him, he never would have gone after Foggy, or you,” he blurted. “And he’d still be here._ Foggy _would still-“ he choked on the end of his sentence._

_Karen shook her head sternly. “No. We all had our own bone to pick with Fisk. You don’t have a monopoly on pain, Murdock.” Her red-rimmed eyes locked onto his sightless one. She gripped his shoulders._

_“Foggy never did anything he didn’t want to do,” she said. Mat_t _opened his mouth to disagree but Karen cut him off._

“_No, Matt. Maybe he took on a few more pro-bonos than he would’ve liked, but Fisk is a different story,” she swallowed thickly. “Foggy would always do the right thing. For himself and for the people he cared about. And taking down Fisk was the right thing to do.”_

_When Matt didn’t respond, Karen continued. She pressed her hand_ _to the side of his face, catching his single tear with her thumb._

_“Foggy did what he would have wanted. Maybe not always how he wanted, but he got it right in the end. And we both_ _know what he would’ve wanted now.”_

_Matt continued to face her direction, his expression blank and waiting. Karen smiled slightly._

_“For you not to be an asshole and do the whole ‘lone wolf’ thing,” she said. Matt shook his head and tried to turn awa_y, _but Karen held him in place with the hand on his face._

_“I mean it, Matt,” she said. “He would want us to be together, not for you to push us away. I know it’s hard, but it’s what he would want... What he wants.”_

_Matt continued to face her, determined not to let an_other _tear fall._

“_Now that Fisk is gone, we can finally do that for him. For Foggy.”_

From then on, Karen proved that she was stronger than Matt would have ever imagined. He knew how hurt she was, but no one looking at her would have. She accepted every hug, every murmured apology with a sad smile, only allowing herself to deflate a little when she felt Matt listening out for her. He knew she was putting on a brave face for his sake, as much as her own.

They were a family, the three of them. But Karen knew the bond he had with Foggy was something that had existed long before she came into the picture, and though she never felt excluded from the two of them, that specific brand of closeness was something she could only witness, never really experience for herself. Maybe that’s why she allowed Matt to slip out early without too many questions. She told him she’d make up an excuse for him and make sure Maggie got home safe. As if anyone in this fucked-up city was stupid enough to mess with either of those women.

So, here he stood. Alone at the grave of his closest friend in the entire world. Well, almost alone.

“Castle,” Matt said without turning around. He would always recognize that heartbeat. He didn’t know how long Frank had been standing there, too deep in his thoughts to notice when he first arrived.

Frank approached him slowly, moving from wherever he stood to only a few steps behind Matt. He spoke to Matt’s back.

“Red,” he said, softly.

At his tone, Matt lost the small smirk he wore whenever Frank was around. The smile fell away and Matt instantly wanted to cry.

“Red, I know you feel like shit,” Frank intoned, that gravelly baritone reaching parts of Matt he’d rather leave untouched. Ripping emotion from him without his body’s permission. Easily stripping away the parts of him that he hid behind.

“I know whatever I have to say isn’t gonna make it better,” Frank picked up when Matt still hadn’t turned around to face him. He looked down at his hands and played with the wedding ring on his finger in an uncharacteristic show of nervousness. Or maybe he was searching deep enough for the strength to say what he needed, to reach out to a friend in need. No shame in it.

“I just want you to know, Red... I’ve been there. Shit, I’m still there,” he said. Normally the statement would have been accompanied by a small self-deprecating chuckle, but Frank left it alone.

“But I’m here, too,” he said after a moment. “And I know you have Karen, and Nelson’s family, or the priest, but -“

Matt was on him in an instant. He threw his arms around Frank’s neck and buried his face into his shoulder. Matt let out everything he hadn’t been allowing himself to feel earlier.

He sobbed into the leather of Frank’s coat. Frank belatedly wrapped his arms around Matt and held him as he cried. Cries that eventually turned into wails, Matt too far gone to feel anything even close to embarrassment.

“Shh, shh... Hey, I got you. I got you, Red,” Frank whispered into Matt’s hair. He placed his hand on the back of Matt’s head and pushed it further into his shoulder. The solid wall of muscle successfully muffling all of Matt’s screams.

Frank held him for as long as Matt needed. “I got you, Red. I’m right here.”

**Author's Note:**

> "you know... next time i see you... only one of us walks away."  
"yes, of course. i'm counting on it.” 😉
> 
> as always, i hope i did these amazing characters justice. let me know if you enjoyed it!
> 
> also, i decided to post this under the “daredevil (comics)” tab because I’m pretty sure the astrovik case is an actual case that nelson & murdock worked at some point, that wasn’t mentioned in the show. just a fun fact for anyone that cares lol.
> 
> hmu on tumblr/twitter! @maniskordaze


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